This was set up originally in 1943 as clinton laboratories. Dn have the name oakridge at the time. And the purpose of clinton laboratories was to learn how to produce plutonium which was a radioactive element that could split and release vast amounts of energy just like some uranium can. But they didnt know much about plutonium. It was an artificial element. It had to be created by man. They knew nothing about the characteristics of plutonium. Building started in february of 1943. This facility, the graphite reactor as we know it today, was starting in spring of 1943, completed by november of 1943. And came on line as the worlds first operating Nuclear Reactor and in this case, used specifically to produce tiny, tiny amounts of plutonium which were recovered and then shipped up to the laboratory which was part of the Manhattan Project in chicago. So they could be characterized up there. And other bits of plutonium that were produced here were shipped tout Los Alamos Laboratory in new mexico where the bombs were actually designed and built by Robert Oppenheimer and other famous physicists and ultimately tested out there in new mexico. So the purpose of Oak Ridge National laboratory was originally to serve as a test reactor which is where we are right now to produce trace amounts of plutonium for a nuclear weapon. And they realized i say they the government realized fairly quickly back in 1942 and 43 that oakridge and east tennessee were not the places to produce vast amounts of plutonium for a weapon. Plutonium is a highly toxic element. I mean its very, very carcinogenic. Very dangerous if not handled proper will. And east tennessee was not the place to be producing large amounts of plutonium. This reactor here, wasnt even called a reactor it was called a pile was designed simply to learn how to produce plutonium, not to produce large amounts of it. Originally, the first reactor that was developed was at the university of chicago. And whom we all heard of was the principal scientists that developed that reactor. He did it in the squash cord of stag field which is where football used to be played at the university of chicago. They werent playing football anymore. So thats where he ended up. In the squash courts under the grand stands at stag field. He produced the first Nuclear Reactor. And proved that a selfsustaining Nuclear Reaction could be created and maintained. And thats what you have to have in order to produce plutonium is a chain reaction. But government said this is not the place to be messing around with Nuclear Reactors in downtown chicago. And so were going to buy a tract of land somewhere. They ended up in east tennessee. They bought 100 square miles down here. And the purpose of this facility at oak ridge, it wasnt oakridge at that time. It was just farm communities. The purpose here was to not only build what we know today as the graphite reactor to produce these trace amounts of plutonium which could be used as a fuel and a weapon, but also to enrich uranium because the army corps of engineers which ran the Manhattan Project under general Leslie Groves groves was sort of fellow that said, well dwoenlt know if plutonium is going to be a better fuel for a bomb or enriched uranium. And so well just produce both of them. We dont have time to try one and then try the other. And so here at oakridge, two facilities known as k25 and y12 were set up to produce enriched uranium. And they both produced enriched uranium but by different methods. So oakridge consisted that time of three facilities. Clinton laboratories which is where the plutonium was to be experimented with. Y12 which was for enriched uranium and k25 was for enriched uranium. All three were separated by ridges and many many miles of distance. So thats what oak ridge was. But thats not the entirety of the Manhattan Project. In addition there was hanford in the state of washington where the plutonium was actually produced in kilogram amounts. And then the third measure facility was at los alamos in new mexico where scientists there under the direction of Robert Oppenheimer actually designed and built the nuclear weapons. The university of chicago had the metal laboratory where a lot of the basic work on plutonium was done. And then there were universities all over the United States clom yashgs michigan, iowa state berkeley at california and so on. All of which participated in various ways in the Manhattan Project. It was a massive undertaking, 2. 2 billion which was a tremendous amount of money during the war years. Not so much today, of course. And the money was allocated without the knowledge of congress. And even Vice President truman didnt know about it. So it was conducted in secret. There were secret cities here at oakridge. They had to build a secret city that ultimately ended up housing 7 a,000 or people. You couldnt get in couldnt get out without going through security. We were fearful that the germans would get access to our technology. And so it was obvious that all this had to be done in secret. And it was. People in the vicinities didnt know what was going on. It was a super secret project. If you were hired here and worked on the project, you only knew what your job was. You werent informed as to what anybody else was doing so that you only saw a little piece of the entire project and really with a few exceptions, you couldnt put together the entire story and understand what was going on. Eventually, after a year or two they actually began to produce some enriched uranium over at y12 and that enriched uranium was carried out of here in a handbag. On the train it went out to los alamos. Somebody just carrying it normally and likewise small amounts of plutonium were shipped up to chicago where they could characterize it and out to los alamos where they could learn how to build a bomb using plutonium plutonium. So everything was coming in, train loads and train loads but nothing as far as anybody could tell was going out. But it was a very very open secret undertaking. And no one knew what was going on except the manager until the bombs were actually dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki in japan in august of 1945. It was at that point that the local population here and the workers who had worked at y12 and k25 and so on actually learned that they had been producing an atomic weapon. And they went wild. There were dances in the streets and parties and everything and you can still see people in the streets holding up newspapers that says what you know we produced a bomb and the war was over and so on. Here at Oak Ridge National laboratory or Clinton Laboratory as it was known at the time we had built this reactor and built a bunch of technology around the reactor or around the effect of radiation on humans and the effects of radiation on the environment, fish and other critters out there. And we knew an awful lot about the Technology Associated with atomic energy. And so the decision was made actually, before the war ended in august of 1945, to maintain this reactor that had been built at the clinton laboratories known today as the graphite reactor and use the from a graphite reactor for purposes of better Understanding Nuclear power, Nuclear Energy and most importantly, use the reactor for producing radioisotopes, radioactive iso taupes with different elements that could be used in medicines. Well, there are a variety of different scientific topics that are undertaken here at oak ridge today. Not many are as important but Energy Technology for instance, and Energy Conservation is a major undertaking. How do we build buildings and houses to conserve Energy Rather than waste it . Neutron science going all the way back to the origins of graphite reactor. Which is a major particle accelerator built here at oak ridge a few years ago at the cost of 1. 4 billion. And the applications of the neutron source are a met at about i think 400 or 500 sfav associated with the neutron source and when it comes fully online, a thousand visitsers every year that will come here from all around the world to use the the facility. Super computing at various times. Oak Ridge National lamp has the fastest civilian computer in the world. Other times, well be second or third on the list. It is a multi disciplinary premier Research Facility. Virtually any type of scientist engineer or social scientist can be found here somewhere on staff. And if you need to undertake a Research Project that involves multi disciplines chemistry biology, geology, engineering, physics, whatever youll find those people here that can contribute to that research and there are all sorts of unique pieces of equipment which are not available out there to the average researcher and in various ways those average researchers can get access to certain pieces of equipment here. So weve got a facility that is truly multi disciplinary, has the resources for undertaking virtually any kind of computational or Research Facility that you can imagine and has an incredible history to it. Couldnt built Something Like this today anywhere in the world world. American history tv continues in prime time tuesday night with a look at the Cambridge Union debate 50 years ago between author James Baldwin and National Review founder william f. Buckley jr. On the motion the American Dream is at the expense of the american negro. First a discussion on william f. Buckley and the american conservatives views on rais during the mid 20th century. Thats followed by a look at the political perspectives of James Baldwin. And from a symposium marking the debates 50th anniversary, africanamerican studies professor talks about race in america. Thats tuesday night beginning at 8 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan3. On the next washington journal, bob deans with the Natural ResourcesDefense Council on the Supreme Court decision overturning the obama administrations air quality rule. The justices said the epa must consider costs before deciding to issue regulation. Then a professor at George Mason University law school looks at a 10yearold Supreme Court ruling that allow iss the government to seize private property under certain circumstances. And Gary Gallagher a history professor at the university of virginia and how the memory of civil war is affecting the current debate over the confederate battle flag. Join the conversation by phone or on facebook and twitter. This summer book tv will cover book festivals from around the country and top nonfiction authors and books. In the middle of july, were live at the harlem book fair for author interviews, panel discussions, and at the beginning of september, were live from the nations Leslie Groves and physicist j. Robert oppenheimer had in ensuring the Manhattan Project was a success